


It’s Like I’m Shootin' With Broken Arrows

by Saori



Category: BBC Radio 1 RPF, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Alternate Universe - Road Trip, Banter, Enemies to Lovers, Hate to Love, Light Angst, M/M, Sexual Content, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-29
Updated: 2017-11-29
Packaged: 2019-02-08 08:31:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12860763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saori/pseuds/Saori
Summary: Road trips are fun if you're going with someone you can connect with. Riding on the highway with the radio on, eating junk food, taking selfies and making meaningless conversations, bantering about directions...That's not exactly the case with Nick and Louis. There might be less connecting and more bickering.or, Nick and Louis miss the last plane, and they have two days to get to France. Traveling together might be the worst and best decision in their lives.





	It’s Like I’m Shootin' With Broken Arrows

**Author's Note:**

  * For [taggiecb](https://archiveofourown.org/users/taggiecb/gifts).



> For no given prompt in particular, because I'm ugh, and taggiecb was so lovely to let me have liberty with this! I really enjoyed writing this fic, and I hope you'll enjoy reading it just as much!
> 
> Huge thanks to my lovely betas [Laura](http://peujeune.tumblr.com/) and [Nic](http://louandhazaf.tumblr.com/)! You're both all sorts of amazing and so very awesome!!
> 
> Title from ["Broken Arrows" by Daughtry](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RX2SzxM4VyU).
> 
> Enjoy!

Nick likes to think of himself as a fairly punctual person, and standing there, in front of the departures board of Manchester airport, he is in disbelief. He knows he’s not late. He can’t be late. He made a note on his phone and set an alarm, he even went to bed early to make sure he woke up on time.

The departure board still says that his flight left an hour ago, no matter how hard he’s staring at it.

“Well, fancy seeing you here!” A voice says from behind him, a voice he’s rather familiar with. He doesn’t even know why he’s surprised to find Louis Tomlinson standing there. He probably missed the same phone call Nick did.

“Tomlinson,” Nick says, eyeing Louis. He raises his eyebrows at the outfit. Louis obviously doesn't care about his public appearance, standing there in baggy sweatpants and hoodie, the hood itself pulled over his light brown hair. He’s rocking what looks like three-day scruff and he looks more like a homeless man than someone ready to attend on a wedding. He has a pillow and blanket folded under his arm, a duffle bag at his feet.

“Grimshaw.” Louis doesn’t bother to look at Nick while he speaks, instead he stares at the departures board and squints. He sighs and crouches down, folding his blanket over the top of it, stuffing his pillow on top of that. He slides the bag onto his shoulder when he’s done and stands. “The woman at the info desk says they won’t be sending a plane until the storm passes.”

The TV to Nick’s right loudly reports on the worst storm in a decade, satellite images of bright blue and reds in swirled patterns, and he frowns, brow knitting together. Nick knew the storm was coming, and he really should have expected the possibility of the plane’s departure being moved up.

“So we miss the wedding.” Nick closes his eyes for a moment, imagining Harry’s eventual freak out. “Peachy.”

“It’s two days until the wedding; it’s not impossible.” Nick peers at him. Louis isn’t looking at him, he’s staring down at his phone, scratching his eyebrow with a thumb while he scrolls.

“We have to be there for the rehearsal dinner tonight, Louis.” Nick says, wiping a hand down his face and closing his eyes, annoyed. “What’s your plan, then? Ship it? The storm doesn’t stop at the water just so we can pass.”

“Drive to London and take the train from there,” Louis replies. “Obviously.”

“You don’t have a car,” Nick points out, his eyes fluttering open again, raising an eyebrow at Louis.

“Ever heard of car renting?” Louis raises his eyebrows, pointing to the car rental poster on the wall behind the desk. Nick needs coffee, he’s too tired to keep up with Louis’s crap.

“Fine,” he grunts, telling himself that channelling his frustration at Louis is not going to help. Even if it _is_ directed at Louis.  Louis isn’t fond of him as it is, he doesn’t need to dig himself a deeper hole. “Let’s go.” Nick shoulders his bag, turning on his heel to head to the rental counter.

“Wait, what? Who said we’re going together?” Louis asks, pocketing his phone. He looks at Nick with an annoyed scowl as he picks up his bag. “Are you serious right now?”

“Now is not the time to be a prick.” Nick glares. Why wouldn’t they go together? “It’s cheaper to go together, and Harry won’t skin you for leaving me behind.” Nick watches Louis’ frown deepen and deepen the longer he talks.

“Stop emotionally manipulating me.”

“I’m not.”

“Whatever,” Louis replies, starting the walk to the car rental, not bothering to look back to see if Nick is following. “We can share, but the minute you annoy me, even a little bit, I’ll kick you out of the car, got it?”

“Got it.”

“Once we’ve gotten the car, we need to stop at Sainsbury’s before we leave Manchester, stock up on snacks and shit so we don’t have to stop too often.” Louis says, turning into the rental office.

They get a Prius, and Nick pays the deposit after Louis looks at him expectantly. The find the car in the parking lot to the west of the taxi rank, and shove their belongings into the back.

It takes almost fifteen minutes to get out of the airport, and then another fifteen to find a Sainsbury’s, and they spend it in awkward silence.

Louis sends Nick to the snack aisle with strict instructions to get Doritos, a bag of potato chips, a bag of donuts, and a bag of beef jerky. Nick scrunches up his nose as he collects them, shoving them in the shopping basket in the crook of his arm, before getting some rice crackers, sweet potato chips, yoghurt, and a sandwich. He meets Louis at the closest checkout to the door and looks at the drinks Louis got himself, the three cans of energy drinks and two litre bottle of Coke.

“How are you not the size of a house? How’ve you not had a heart attack yet?” Nick asks in complete disbelief, swapping Louis’ Dorito’s, potato chips, donuts, and jerky for his drinks, a bottle of iced coffee, a bottle of water, and a bottle of iced tea.

“Rude,” Louis says, scowling, watching the cashier bag his groceries. “My heart’s just fine thanks. I didn’t think you’d care so much about my health.”

“I’m just saying,” Nick says, shaking his head.

When Louis’s paid for his food, Nick waits patiently for his own to be bagged.

“Do you _have_ to be so disgustingly healthy?” Louis asks, scrunching his nose at Nick’s food on the conveyor belt.

“Do you _have_ to be so disgustingly _un_ healthy?” Nick retorts, paying the cashier, taking the bag she hands him and raising an eyebrow at Louis as he passes him for the door.

They spend the first half an hour in complete silence, awkward and uncomfortable, Nick in the driver’s seat while Louis plays on his phone in the passenger.

“What are you doing?” Nick asks, just to fill the quiet.

“Texting, what does it look like?” Louis replies, side eying Nick, tapping away on his phone. “Is it really any of your business?”

“Who are you texting?”

“Your mother. We’ve been having an affair,” Louis replies, rolling his eyes, then lifting his hips so he can shove his phone into his pocket. He reaches forward and turns on the radio, fiddling with the dials until Chris Moyles fills the car.

He’s talking about _The X-Factor_ , about Rai-Elle Williams’s last performance, and the elimination of Alisah Bonaobra.

“I was dead mad when they kicked her off,” Nick admits, turning onto the highway out of the city, looking to Louis for a reaction. He looks bored.

“I don’t watch _The X-Factor,_ ” Louis deadpans, to which Nick huffs, glancing out the side window before turning back to the road.

“I was trying to make conversation, but whatever,” He mumbles, a little hurt. It’s not that Louis is straight up mean to him, but he’s never been pleasant with Nick. Being trapped in the same space as him for nine hours is going to be miserable if Louis keeps acting this way.

“No, please, tell me _all_ about it,” Louis says sarcastically, turning in his seat so he can stare Nick down without having to turn his head. He has his arms crossed, eyebrows raised at him.

“Forget it.” Nick rolls his eyes.

“Okay, fine, you want to chat about _The X-Factor_ , we can chat about _The X-Factor_. I don’t watch talent shows. I think the ones who make it to the finals are shit, so I only watch the auditions because they’re funny. The other day I found a ‘Simon Cowell being an asshole to contestants’ compilation on YouTube.” Louis stops talking with such a finality, that Nick doesn’t know what to say at first. He finds his voice soon enough.

“You know, no one watches it for the talent. I mean, yeah, sometimes there’ll be a contestant who can actually sing, but otherwise it’s for entertainment. Which of the worst is the best?” Nick says, adjusting his grip on the steering wheel and glancing at Louis. “This year my only favourites are probably Alisah and the Cutkelvins, but that’s mostly because the girl in it since Neon Jungle.”

Louis frowns. “Who’s in Neon Jungle?” He slips deeper into his seat and opens an energy drink with a hiss. Nick hopes he doesn’t spill it. He really doesn’t want to pay for the cleaning. “I mean, if you already have a career as a singer, why would you sign up for a talent show?” Louis mutters.

“The band broke up, one girl had a baby. She probably wanted to work with her brothers,” Nick answers, shrugging his shoulders.

“Why couldn’t she have just gone to a recording studio?” Louis asks, taking a sip of his energy drink and opening the Dorito packet one-handed. If Nick wasn’t worried about Louis spilling things everywhere and getting crumbs all over the seats, he might be impressed with how coordinated Louis is. “She’s got to have the money.”

“It’s about the recognition, getting their name out there before they release an album,” Nick replies, rolling his window down and raising his finger at the guy behind him who’s beeping at him. “Can you open my iced coffee and get my sandwich?”

“Do it yourself.”

“I’m driving, you dick,” Nick says, glaring at Louis, who’s getting his food and drink anyway. “Thanks.”

“Whatever.”

“Why are you so rude? Honestly.”

Louis raises his eyebrows, sipping from his drink. “I hate your guts.”

“And why is that exactly?” Nick asks, hoping to finally, after years of trying to get Louis to tell him, he gets a straight answer.

“Oh, please, you know exactly why.”

“You always say that, then run off, avoiding me. If only once you’d take the time to explain, maybe I could do something about it.”

“Do something about your face,” Louis mutters under his breath, and Nick sighs. He can’t believe he willingly got into a car with Louis Tomlinson.

“Do something about yours.”

“Oh, wow, that’s the best comeback you have?” Louis lets out a mean laugh, shaking his head. “Do me a favour, yeah? Don’t talk to me for the rest of this trip.”

“I would, if you could shut up for more than two seconds,” Nick snaps. He looks over at Louis when he doesn’t answer, and sees him pulling out his earphones, phone already in his lap. Nick watches from the corner of his eyes as Louis plugs his ears, then distant notes of probably too loud music start buzzing.

“Typical,” Nick tells the still air of the car. “Avoiding confrontation at all costs.”

They drive in relative silence for a while, when Nick’s phone pings with an incoming text. Not wanting to turn his attention from the road, Nick blindly fishes out his phone, and waves it in front of Louis’ face.

“What?” Louis grunts, pulling out one bud.

“I got a text. Could you read it out to me? It might be Harry, wanting to know where are we.”

“I’ve already told him we missed the flight,” Louis grumbles, taking the phone. “It’s your mum, asking if you brought your nappies,” he deadpans.

“Ha-ha.” Nick rolls his eyes, annoyed. “Hilarious.”

“From Daisy: ‘this is you, missing your flight’, and a meme of a panicking cat,” Louis mumbles, already typing something.

“What are you doing?” Nick glances over, but he can only see for a few seconds. Louis types too long, Nick doesn’t like it.

“Answering.”

“Don’t answer it!” Nick snaps frustrated.

“Too late.” Louis grins smugly, waving the phone.

“What did you write?” Nick groans, already dreading Louis’s answer.

“‘Hey mum. Yes, I have my nappies, stop asking, this is embarrassing.’ And then: ‘Oops, sorry, I’m driving, didn’t see it was you! I just assumed it was my mum again…’” Louis laughs, shaking his head as he taps away on the phone again.

“She’ll know it wasn’t me. What are you doing?” Nick asks horrified, trying to form a plan which with he can take his phone back without crashing the car.

“Tweeting. ‘I have a confession to make. At Louis underscore Tomlinson is the most brilliant, beautiful and greatest person I’ve even met. I hump my pillow thinking about him late at night. I wish I was travelling to France to marry him instead of going as at Harry underscore Styles’ pathetic…’ aw, I reached the word limit,” Louis narrates as he types. “Maybe I could… Yeah, let’s delete the last part, and… ‘I wish I was travelling to France to marry him, but I’m pathetic. Crying emoji five times.’ Perfect.” He grins as he posts the tweet, and Nick sighs, shaking his head.

“You know, if you really want people to believe you’re me, you should make more effort to sound like me.”

“I’m on Instagram now.”

“No, don’t—” Nick frowns, reaching over for his phone, but Louis pulls it out of his range.

“Do you have embarrassing selfies?” Louis asks as he scrolls and Nick feels like crying.

“Please don’t go through my pictures, Louis, that’s going over the line—”

“Oh my God, is that a dog humping your ass?” Louis laughs, tapping on the phone.

“Louis,” Nick warns, but Louis is already typing.

“‘This is me making love with my partner. I can’t help it, just love the feeling of doggy dick—’”

“Louis, I swear to God if you share something dirty where my mum can see it—”

“Oh my God, your mum follows you on social media?” Louis asks, delighted, sitting up straighter in his seat. Nick attempts to take the phone back again, failing. “Forget the dog picture.” Louis grins, holding up the phone and turning, so he can take a selfie with a driving Nick.

“‘Finally admitted my feelings for Louis. Super happy to travel to the country of love with my new BF. Thanks for the confidence boost, mum. Nobody else would’ve told me my dick isn’t tiny—’”

“Louis!”

“Fine, but only because your mum would hate me. Mums love me. I can’t ruin my reputation,” Louis answers, tapping away before dropping the phone in Nick’s lap. It buzzes a few minutes later, but Nick makes no move to get it. “Don’t you want to know how your little friends reacted?” Louis asks with a smirk.

“If you want it, feel free to take it.” Nick cocks an eyebrow, wriggling his hips. Louis makes a pained noise and crosses his arms over his chest.

“Only in your dreams am I going anywhere near your crotch. Pervert.” Louis huffs.

“I only ever have nightmares about you, so I don’t think so.” Nick picks up his phone, sliding it back to his pocket. They drive in silence for a few minutes before Nick notices Louis doesn’t have his earbuds in and is staring straight ahead.

“What’s with this obsession of me secretly being in love with you?”

“I’m just projecting your innermost feelings. It’s not my fault that I’m all you talk about, anyway.”

“I’m just trying to understand why you hate me so much.” Nick sighs, shaking his head. He walked right into that one.

“You know why I hate you though, so there’s no point asking about it.”

“No, I don’t, okay?” Nick snaps, having had enough. “I’m not a mind reader, your motivations aren’t clear for me, so if you could please enlighten me.”

“Oh, piss off.” Louis laughs darkly. “I don’t owe you an explanation. It’s not my fault you don’t have any sort of self-awareness.”

“If I don’t know what I should be aware of, no, I don’t. I never done anything to you, you were the one who decided to hate me from day one.”

“So it’s my fault, is it? Well then.” Louis picks up his abandoned earbuds and slumps back into his seat, grumbling about stupid hair and a too long nose. Nick thinks Louis’ hair is stupid, but whatever.

Almost an hour later, Louis finally takes the earphones out again, looking out the window curiously.

“Hey, when’s the next rest?” Louis asks, craning his neck to look at a sign.

“A couple more kilometres. Why?”

“Why do you think?” Louis rolls his eyes.

“Well, why did you drink that whole energy drink so quickly?” Nick asks, annoyed, slipping into the middle lane so they can pass the SUV in front of them.

“I don’t know, maybe because I was thirsty?” Louis grunts, squirming in place. Nick sighs, shaking his head, and it’s quiet for a few minutes until Louis groans. “How long?”

“I don’t know. A few more kilometres. If you can’t wait, you have that can.”

“I’m not going to piss into a drink can on the road.” Louis’s leg is bouncing up and down, and it’s driving Nick crazy.

“I’m going as fast as the speed limit, Christsakes,” Nick replies, turning back into the side lane and taking the next exit.

Nick pulls into the rest stop, and Louis looks like he’s ready to jump out of the car. The moment Nick finds a parking spot and pulls the car into it, Louis he does just that, and it makes Nick’s heart race. “Idiot!” Nick shouts after him, watching as he rounds the building, following the toilet signs.

Nick gets out of the car as soon as he parks, stretching and frowning as he bends his knees, joints protesting loudly. He didn’t realize he was so stiff. He gets his sandwich and locks the car, walking around to the grassy patch in front of the car.

Louis appears a few minutes later, looking more relaxed than he had in the past half hour of their ride. Nick is leaning on the hood of the car, munching on his sandwich with sips of water.

“Success?” Nick asks, to which Louis shakes his head.

“It was out of service. I went behind the trees. You should go too, if we don’t want to stop too soon.”

“Sure. I’ll just finish this. Do you want to drive?” he asks, stuffing the last of his sandwich into his mouth, crumpling up the paper bag it came in.

“I was thinking I could drive once we get off the train in France, I’m more used to that,” Louis says. Nick remembers something about Louis’ family having a house in France.

“Sure.” Nick nods, pushing away from the hood. “I’m gonna go and wee, here are the keys if you want anything from the car. Don’t park somewhere else or drive off.” He glares at the shorter lad, who just raises his eyebrows, accepting the keys.

Nick finishes his business quickly, jogging back to the car. Louis is sitting inside, typing away on his phone, which reminds Nick to check his own. He pulls it out, answering a text from Daisy, and sending one to Harry as well, because he isn’t sure Louis really did end up telling him about Nick also.

He gets into the car, frowning at Louis, who now has his shoes off and a half-eaten donut in his lap. They get on the highway in silence once again, and Louis turns on the radio to find something decent to listen to.

A while into the drive, Nick chimes up, unable to bear the silence anymore.

“Amazing. Half an hour has passed and you haven’t made a sarcastic remark about me. Cat got your tongue?” He looks over at the passenger seat, where Louis’s slumped, leaning against the door, eyes closed under the hood he pulled on his head.

Nick shakes his head, preparing for a quiet drive, relaxing back into his own seat, letting the music wash over him as he pedals and holds the wheel. Louis stirs after an hour, grumbling before he sits up straighter, stretching his legs as far as they can go.

“How long until we get there?” he asks, rubbing sleep from his eyes as he wakes his phone as well to look at the time.

“We should be there in an hour and half. Would you mind getting my water from the backseat? I tried to get it but I didn’t want to get into an accident.” Nick aims for neutral with his request. Surprisingly, Louis doesn’t say a word, just turns, and half climbs out his seat in order to reach the bottle on the backseat. Nick would like to make a comment about his height, but he’s better than that. He _is_.

Louis gets the bottle and sits back in his seat. He twists off the cap, but when Nick reaches for the bottle, Louis raises it to his own mouth, taking a sip. He wipes off the mouth of the bottle and passes it to Nick, who accepts it with a ‘thanks’.

“Have you ever taken the Eurotunnel?” he asks while Nick takes small sips, handing the bottle back when he’s done. Louis screws the cap back on and drops the bottle between them in the holder.

“No. Have you?” Louis shakes his head and taps on his phone.

“I always fly,” Louis says, then hums, looking down at his phone. “Says it’s £60 for two people there. Wow, that’s ridiculously expensive. Hey, do we get the money back from our flight? I forgot to ask them.”

“No.” Nick sighs, already doing math in his head. This trip is already leaving a big dent in his credit card. He'll have to cut his French roast coffee beans from the market in the next two weeks. It’s a good thing everything at the wedding is paid for.

“Why didn’t you leave with Harry?” Nick asks, curious.

“Why didn’t you?” Louis asks back grumpily, rubbing his eyes as he locks his phone and drops it in his lap.

“I was working,” Nick says rolling his eyes. “I’ve had a big project coming up this week and couldn’t leave on Wednesday with the rest of the wedding party. You?”

“I had work as well.” Louis sighs, cracking his neck side to side with a grimace.

He reaches for the radio and changes the station, and they fall silent once again. It’s another half an hour until Louis’ phone pings and he looks down, snorting.

“Harry asks if we’ve murdered each other yet.”

“You can tell him all about how awful it is to travel with me,” Nick says, tapping on the steering wheel as Rita Ora’s new song comes on.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Louis mutters distractedly as he types on his phone. “I’m telling him _all_ about it.”

The rest of the ride goes in silence, until they get near London.

“Would you look up where we need to go?” Nick asks as he sees the sign about an exit off the highway.

“I know where to go.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, of course I’m sure.” Louis rolls his eyes, waving his phone in the air.

“Fine, Jesus,” Nick mumbles, and stays silent for fifteen more minutes. “Where now?” He asks, looking at the sign that announces the next exit.

“Take the second exit on the roundabout.” Nick does a few minutes later, then glances at Louis questioningly. “Go on straight ahead.”

“It takes us to a totally different direction.”

“It doesn’t.” Louis rolls his eyes, shaking his head. “Just follow my lead.”

“Are you sure?” Nick frowns, looking over at Louis.

“Christ, yes, Grimshaw, I’m not actually an idiot.” Louis is getting more annoyed by the minute.

“I just want to make sure—”

“I _am_ sure, how many times do I have to tell you?”

“I just—”

“Oh my God, shut up!” Louis snaps, slapping his hands on the dashboard. It startles Nick enough that he doesn’t object until they reach a junction.

“Do I have to turn?”

“Ugh, yeah, actually, do that,” Louis grumbles as he taps on his phone a few times. They leave the wide road to navigate in the city.

Nick actually never spent too much time in London, and while he knows Louis has, Nick isn’t sure Louis knows how to get to their destination. Hell, he doesn’t even know what their destination is.

“Where are we going exactly?” he asks as he follows the road.

“Take a right at the next turn,” Louis instructs without answering.

“Louis, if I don’t know where we’re going, I’m going to get lost.”

“Uh-huh,” Louis mutters tiredly, sighing. He sounds like he just doesn’t want to deal with Nick anymore. “Waterloo station.”

“Okay.” Nick nods, waiting for the next direction. Louis navigates them through the city until they see the station from a distance. “Can you tell us where is the rental here?” Nick asks as they’re waiting for a red light, turning to look at where Louis is typing on his phone.

“Right next to the station, we should see it soon,” he says, craning his neck to see. The building doesn’t come into view until they reach the station, then they drop the car off, taking their stuff with them.

The station is huge, with a big glass roof curling above them. It seems to be rather busy for it being evening, but it doesn’t matter. They navigate through the crowd to the ticket booth, waiting in line. They don’t talk while they wait, until Louis steps up and asks for only one ticket.

“Hey, didn’t we agree to go together?” Nick hisses after the lady finishes asking her questions about Louis’ luggage.

“Unless you ask for a different train, I don’t see how this is not going together.” Louis rolls his eyes, then smiles at the bored looking lady behind the glass as he takes his change and ticket.

“Fine.” Nick huffs, stepping up to the window while Louis steps away to sort out his money and ticket. Nick doesn’t know where Louis is sitting, but he believes he shows great self-restraint by not asking the lady to give him the farthest seat possible.

 After they get sorted out, they head for the platform where their train is departing. They find it with little difficulty and get on right away.

“Meet you at the other side, loser,” Louis says, presenting him the most obnoxious shit-eating grin, heading ahead in the cabin. Nick glances at the cabin number; he's seated in the same one as Louis. He finds a seat a few rows away from the other lad.

Pushing his bag on the rack overhead, he sits down, pulling out his phone and headphones. He wishes he had his laptop, so he could answer the e-mail he got from his workplace properly, or work a little while they’re travelling.

When Harry called him the day before to make sure Nick didn’t forget, he gave strict rules that Nick cannot work while they’re in France. Nick doesn’t get what the big deal is. It’s not like they’re going to hang out all day, he could work in the evenings. So what if he’s a bit of a workaholic?

The speakers above them signal that the train leaves in a few minutes, and Nick relaxes back into his seat. The cabin is almost empty, save from himself and Louis, a couple at the end of the cabin, two elderlies in different seats, and a young guy who seems to be doing his schoolwork, chewing on the end of his pen.

The train leaves with a jerk, the speaker announcing everything in English and French, telling them not to smoke in the cabins, et cetera. Nick watches the scenery go by for a while, then loses his interest and goes back to his phone.

The train soon announces it’s heading underground and Louis probably gets bored, as he plops down on the seat across from Nick’s, turning to lean on the armrest, watching him. He has his bag of chips in his hand, munching loudly on them.

“What’s up?” Nick asks, turning toward the younger boy. He looks comfortable in his sweat pants and oversized hoodie, but also bored.

“You didn’t bring cards, did you?” he asks raising an eyebrow and Nick snorts.

“No, I expected to be admiring the scenery from above, not get trapped with anyone below.”

“So, if it was Liam who missed the flight instead of me, would you have come with him as well?”

“Yes, and I probably would have a better time with him. Liam would have offered to drive, asked if I’m okay with the music he put on the radio and would’ve talked to me in a human manner. Why?”

Louis frowns, shaking his head as he pops a chip in his mouth. “Ugh. You’re a knob head.”

“And you’re eating disgustingly,” Nick answers, rolling his eyes. It earns him Louis opening his mouth as he chews and Nick turns away, screwing up his face. “What are you, five? No, forget that, five-year olds are more domesticated than you.”

“And you’d know that how exactly?” Louis snorts. “You don’t even know how to approach a child.”

“My social skills are none of your business,” Nick mutters, staring at his phone intently, without reading a word. Thinking of children and Louis makes his stomach upset. He doesn’t know if it’s because of his fear for the children or reaction to the domestic picture.

“They became my business when you posted my face on your stupid Instagram and admitted your eternal love. I didn’t know a person can post so much shit in a day, and by shit, I mean your face. You should thank me for improving your quality with mine.”

“Your rampage on my social media has nothing to do with me, and really?” Nick frowns, shaking his head. “All your problems with me have something to do with my face?”

“Uh, yeah. It’s ugly, so.” Louis shrugs, turning so he can lean back in his seat and close his eyes.

“You know, if you’d grow a pair and hang out with me for more than the two minutes you usually take out of your day to insult me, I think you’d finally see that I’m not a bad person, maybe even like me,” Nick mutters under his breath. It’s not like he even _wants_ Louis to do that.

“Why is everyone saying that to me? Spending time with you sounds like the worst thing that could happen to me, which includes torture and death. Thanks, but no thanks.” Nick can practically hear the eye roll in Louis’ voice, even with the lad’s eyes closed. He’s glad Louis can’t see the hurt on his face right now.

“That’s lovely. Then why did you sit here? Just to annoy me? Nice job, goal accomplished, you can go now.” Nick grunts, trying to concentrate on his e-mail, failing. Louis’ presence just puts him too much on edge.

Louis doesn’t answer, eyes still closed, and if the slack hold he has on his chips is anything to go by, he is well on his way to falling asleep. Nick hates himself for caring, but Louis’ luggage is still at his seat without supervision. He’s sure Louis will raise hell if it disappears.

“Hey, you might want to go back to your seat if you want to doze. I’m not going to listen to your complaining if your stuff gets stolen,” he says, stirring Louis. Louis groans, blinking rapidly before grimacing and pushing out of his chair.

“Well, it was lovely chatting with you. I’m gone now. Leave me alone for the rest of the way.”

Like he was the one going to Louis’ seat and talking shit, but he doesn’t say it, because Louis is already standing and gone. Nick shakes his head, going back to his phone.

The train arrives to Calais around nine, and he’s tired and stiff from the long ride.

“I don’t really feel like driving anymore today,” Louis says, pressing down a yawn.

“You realize you’ve slept on the ride and the train as well? I should be the one tired.”

“Gosh, can you be more self-centered?” Louis rolls his eyes, looking around. Nick grits his teeth, desperate to hold in the same jab he could make about Louis as well. It doesn’t matter. Louis is probably grumpy from his nap, and Nick doesn’t have the patience to deal with it anymore.

“Let’s find a cab then and go to a motel or something,” Nick suggests, which Louis actually agrees with. They ride to a motel just out of town. It’s not the nicest or the cheapest, but it’ll do for the night. At least it has a car-rental nearby so they don’t have to go back into town in the morning.

Against Nick’s prediction, settling in with Louis goes without any hitch. Louis claims the bed farther away from the door first, going to the bathroom to change. Nick changes too, not planning on going anywhere, slipping under the covers just as Louis leaves the bathroom.

Louis gets his phone first, sitting down to text someone, then he’s shutting off lights and going to his own bed to lie down as well. The motel isn’t the best in term of location, right next to a busy street and cheap sheets, but Nick can’t complain. The sounds of evening traffic and Louis’ turning lulls him into sleep.

 

\--

 

Nick rises first, rubbing his eyes as he sits up. At some point in the night, Louis opened the window just a tad, cold air and the sound of rain seep into the room.

Louis is still in bed, turned toward the wall. His covers have slipped down to the small of his back, exposing his t-shirt covered back. Nick sighs, shaking his head as he stretches, then stands, going over and pulling the covers carefully up. He doesn’t linger, in the fear of waking Louis and getting insulted again.

He takes his clothes and goes to the bathroom for a shower, before heading out. There’s a restaurant just across the road from the motel, so Nick goes there and asks for some scrambled eggs with sausage, and some coffee. He doesn’t know how Louis finds him, but just as his food arrives, he’s there, sitting down across Nick, smiling up at the waitress and ordering eggs benedict with a cup of coffee for himself.

“Morning,” Nick says, raising his eyebrows over the rim of his cup as he sips from the too hot coffee.

“Hey,” Louis grunts, rubbing at his eyes. He has two pullovers on, one a hoodie, grey hood poking out from under the deep blue sweater. His hair is flat and a little wet, but it doesn’t look like it’s from the rain, instead a shower just like Nick’s, whose is already curling on top of his head. He didn’t have the chance to do it like he does most mornings.

“Sleep well?” Nick wonders, trying to make small talk while getting his fork and starting on his eggs.

“Awful, thank you. How are you so fucking chipper this early?” Louis whines, looking sleepy and uncomfortable. He leans forward, bracing his elbows on the table.

“I slept alright.” Nick shrugs. He’s glad when the waitress shows up with Louis’ breakfast, because it means Louis will concentrate his grumpiness on something other than Nick.

“So, what's the plan for today?” Louis asks almost conversationally, like Nick is not someone he’s rather drown in his cup of coffee.

“Rent a car, go to the hotel, settle in.”

“I like it.” Louis yawns. He slurps his coffee, picking up his fork to cut into his eggs benedict.

“Good. We have to check out of the motel by ten, whenever you want to leave.”

“Don’t want to stay too long here. Should head out in an hour or so,” Louis hums.

“Good.” They keep eating their breakfast, then start to talk about the food. It’s just small talk, and for once, Louis keeps it as such, not trying to insult Nick at his every word. It seems to be only because of his sleepiness, and slowly but surely Louis’ snarky comments return.

Even then, it’s strangely calm, like the ones before the storm Nick knows is coming. Being trapped with each other doesn’t do well for either of their mental health.

They eat their breakfast, then go back to the motel to pack up and check out. They walk to the car rental, Louis being more pleasant to the lady behind the desk than he has been so far with Nick. They load their luggage into the back, Louis taking the keys and slipping in behind the wheel.

He’s tapping away on his phone before hooking it up in the phone holder the previous car didn’t have, adjusting it so the screen is looking away from Nick. It’s probably the GPS anyways, at least Nick hopes so.

It’s quiet in the car until Nick reaches for the radio and melodies of new, hip music fills the car. He’s yawning and is about to close his eyes for a few minutes. He tries to get comfortable in the hard seat, but it’s almost impossible, so he gives up on it pretty soon. They drive in silence for a while, Louis following the directions his phone gives him.

Nick looks up the road as well, the phone telling him it’s a three-hour drive to Le Havre, and they’re about one third of the way. That’s good, because Nick doesn’t like long drives if he’s the passenger. Maybe Louis felt this way in England as well. Maybe they aren’t all that different.

The thing is, Nick doesn’t hate Louis, despite Louis’ feelings for him. Quite honestly, he thinks if Louis would give him a chance, they could be very close.

He doesn’t even notice dosing off until the car comes to a stop. Nick looks around, noting they’re in front of a car rental, rain pouring down on the roof of the car, the sky grey and moody.

“We’re here?” Nick asks as Louis pulls his phone off and taps on it before pushing it in his pocket.

“Yeah. Harry said they could send a cab for us, we just have to wait it out, then from there it’s only about twenty minutes until the venue.”

“Sounds good.” Nick groans as they prepare to leave. Louis doesn’t look keen on stepping out to the rain, and Nick can’t blame him. They get out and settle the rental, then, in the lobby Nick pauses, putting down his bag, opening it.

“What are you doing?” Louis asks frowning down at him.

“Getting my coat. Did you not bring anything warm?”

“Uh, no,” Louis says like it should be obvious. And it should be, from the two tops he has on. Nick rolls his eyes, glad that his raincoat bag has two transparent blue and colourless raincoats in it. He hands the blue one to Louis without a word.

“What is this?”

“A raincoat, what does it look like?”

“Like a trash bag. I don’t need your stuff, thanks.” Louis scowls.

“Fine, but I’m not going to listen to how it’s my fault you caught a cold. I offered.” Nick holds out his hand for the raincoat, but Louis hesitates.

“Only because I’m not going to have a stuffy nose during the ceremony,” he says as he shakes out the material. They wait for the taxi, trying to stay out of the rain as much as possible. Louis stands with his hands under the coat in his sweatpants pockets, shifting from foot to foot.

The cab arrives fifteen minutes later and they get in, Louis claiming the passenger seat while Nick takes the back. As they ride, Louis is trying to get rid of the raincoat.

“Your stupid thing isn’t coming off,” he complains, pulling on the front of the plastic.

“Just pull it over your head.” Nick rolls his eyes, doing just that, resting the coat on the seat next to his. Louis groans and grunts as he’s wrestling the offensive cloth.

“I’m gonna rip it off, Grimshaw, I swear.”

“I told you, just pull it over your head. It’s not that hard, or do you want me to do it for you?” Nick teases, smirking lopsided. Louis makes eye contact with him, glaring through the rear-view mirror.

“No, what I want is get rid of it!” Louis snaps, finally succeeding in pulling it off. They’re just turning to the road leading to the hotel they’re staying at for the wedding.

“Here,” Louis tosses the coat to the backseat, right into Nick’s lap, “get it away from me before I burn it.”

“Well, if you didn’t have the mental capability of a five-year-old, then you could’ve just pulled it off as I said. I got it off in half a minute. Or not even.”

“‘Me this, me that’, can you talk about something else other than yourself?” Louis rolls his eyes, as the car comes to a stop. Nick doesn’t hesitate as Louis throws open the door, stepping out himself.

“Well I would, if there was anything more interesting during this little trip than me!”

“Oh, good, they’re both still alive,” someone says to their side. As Nick turns, he sees Liam and Harry standing to the side. Harry has a relieved look on his face, while Liam looks worried and nervous for them.

“Barely,” Louis grunts, glaring at Nick before rounding him and the car to open the trunk and take out his bag.

“Oh, like you had it so bad on this trip, I constantly insulted you, hijacked your social media and just generally annoyed you… Oh, no, wait, that wasn’t me, was it? That was you,” Nick exclaims, pushing Louis out of the way so he can pull his luggage out of the trunk of the cab.

“It was hard not to, you’re just so fucking easy, Grimshaw,” Louis replies, rolling his eyes. He power-walks to Liam, handing his bag over, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him towards the hotel. “Harry, come up to my room when Grimshaw is done singing odes about me.”

“Like I would waste my breath on you!” Nick shouts at Louis’ retreating back. Louis doesn’t even slow down as he flips him off over his shoulder. Nick then turns to Harry, who’s looking at him with a curious expression, eyebrows raised, the corners of his mouth curling up in a slight, amused smirk. “Shut up, Hazza. Missed you,” Nick says, stepping closer and throwing his arms around the other man.

“Me too. How was the ride?” he asks, patting him on the back before pulling away.

Nick picks up his bag and they turn to walk toward the hotel as well. Nick only hopes Louis has already gone up to his own room, because he couldn’t handle him at the moment. He might like the boy when his insults aren’t aimed at Nick, but when they are, he’s just straight up unbearable.

“Too long, too much Louis Tomlinson,” Nick sighs. “Sorry for being late. This new project…”

“It’s okay, you don’t have to apologize. It’s not like it’s my wedding.” Harry smirks. Nick chuckles, relieved that he finally has company that doesn’t want to make fun of his every word. They walk up towards the castle hotel, Nick telling Harry about his trip with Louis.

He might exaggerate a few things, but he doubts Louis is presenting his version any more truthful. The thing is, Harry knows why Louis hates him, Nick is positive about that, but all he ever says is “he’ll come around, give him a chance”. And Nick would, but apparently, Louis takes absolutely forever to reach that point.

“Nick, he doesn’t hate you,” Harry would say every time Louis is the topic.

“If he doesn’t hate me then why the Hell can’t he leave me alone with the insults?” Nick would huff, shaking his head.

“Please don’t hate him, he’s just… Just give him a chance, okay?” Harry would sigh tiredly.

“I don’t hate him, Harry, that’s the worst!” Nick would throw his hands up in frustration. “I want to be friends with him, but with how he treats me, I’ll choke him sooner than that ever happens.”

 

\--

 

He doesn’t see Louis until the reception, and even then, only because his legs can’t take the elderly lady’s demand to dance anymore. He excuses himself to step outside to the terrace for a moment. A smaller group is just about to leave, throwing their cigarette butts into puddles.

“Are you coming, Lou?” One of them asks, which is when Nick notices Louis still standing there, almost a whole cigarette in hand.

“I’m gonna finish this, go ahead, I’ll find you,” he replies, and the guys nod at him, smiling at Nick as they enter the building. Louis stays behind, turned away from him, looking out at the rainy field in front of the hotel. They kept the wedding there, under big, white tents that are left there because the staff are too busy with the guests.

“Bored of kissing ass?” Louis asks over the sound of the pouring rain and Nick sighs. So he won’t be able to pretend they’re not standing here, alone together again. Or that they can stand each other’s company. Again, Louis’ fault, not his. If it was on him, he’d make small talk about the wedding. Small talk is always a safe bet.

“I danced with Moira for the last hour or so. I need a break, the old girl can keep going forever, it’s insane.”

Louis snorts, shaking his head as he taps on his cigarette. “Knew you would be the one she targets. If you knew anything about the people here, you’d have known not to accept her offer to dance.”

Nick frowns at the insult. Louis just can’t ever stop, can he?

“Harry told me a thing or two about them, and Jade seems to like me.”

“Because Jade is awesome,” Louis grunts.

“What’s your problem with me, Louis?” Nick asks, raising his voice. He might have had a little more to drink than usual, words leaving him without his consent. “When Harry introduced me, Jade said she doesn’t believe I’m as bad as you tell everyone. Just what is it that’s so awful about me, huh?”

“If I were to list them all, we would be here all night.”

“Just tell me already, why the hell do you hate me so much, because I’m sick and tired of having to tell people I’m not Satan,” Nick demands, crossing his arms across his chest.

“My problem is your obsession with being everybody’s favourite.” Louis turns around, dropping his cigarette, stomping on it as he steps closer. “If you’d stop caring for a moment, you’d see that there’s other things in the world other than your flawless image!”

“That’s it? You hate me because I care what other people think? You realize if it wasn’t for you, I shouldn’t be worried in the first place, right? Harry likes me just enough, and seeing he’s my friend and not you, I don’t need your judgement.” _Technically_ , he adds in his head. What he wants and what he needs might not be the same thing. Louis can’t judge him for _that_.

“Oh, here we go again!” Louis throws his hands up, taking another step closer. They’re probably a little too loud. Nick doesn’t know how soundproof the terrace door is, so he steps forward as well, to distance himself from it. “Harry this, Harry that. You could only be more obsessed with him if you got married!”

“We-- What?” Nick frowns, jerking back from the venom in Louis’ voice. “Harry is my best friend, of course I talk about him a lot. You do too, by the way.”

“Best friend, right, keep telling that to yourself.” Louis rolls his eyes, shaking his head.

“I do, because he is! Why, what else would he be?” Nick asks confused. He has a feeling where this conversation is going, and he doesn’t really like that road. It was a bad idea to ask. He just… He needs to know. This has been going on for way too long, and quite frankly, Nick is sick of it. Sick of fighting.

“Oh, don’t pretend you two never got it on.” Louis snorts, crossing his arms as well, huffing out his chest.

“Louis—” Nick starts, but Louis cuts him off, frustrated.

“Don’t even try to deny it. It’s pretty fucking obvious.” Louis shakes his head, turning and heading towards the terrace door. Nick stops him with a hand on his arm.

“This is your problem? You thought we were together and what? You got jealous? Well, good news for you, Harry and I never even made out, so you can forget this nonsense now and treat me as a human being.”

“That’s not my problem.” Louis’ jaw tenses, his teeth clenching. “Stop talking and let go of me.” Louis turns, looking into Nick’s eyes with his cold blue ones. The light from the reception lights half his face, while the other half is in shadows. This is probably the first time Nick got so close to him, and he likes what he sees. He just wishes the ice-cold glint wasn’t there.

“Why do you hate me Louis? Just tell me that and I’ll leave you alone.” Nick’s voice is quiet, and almost breaks when he pleads. He’s glad it doesn’t, it would only make Louis mock him for it. Louis searches his eyes, gaze flicking from one to the other, jaw twitching as he takes deep breaths. Nick thinks he wants to say something, multiple times, but he doesn’t.

“You’re right,” Louis says at last, looking down at where Nick is still gripping his arm. Nick lets go, thinking he’s hurting Louis, but when he does, Louis doesn’t run away like Nick thought he would. Instead he stays there, still looking down.

“I am?” Nick asks confused, caught off guard by the mood change.

“Don’t make me say it again.” Louis looks up, dead into Nick’s eyes, challenging him to dare him. Nick doesn’t. It feels like they’re just about to come to an understanding. He isn’t going to fuck it up.

“What am I right about?” he asks, aiming for carefully neutral. Of course, it doesn’t work, Louis rolling his eyes like Nick is being difficult.

“What you said. I thought you were together and got jealous. Jesus, did you get drunk from two glasses of champagne?” Nick isn’t even going to guess how Louis knows how much he had to drink. There are more pressing issues, such as:

“Well, you don’t have to be jealous. Harry and I aren’t together. I’m not going to steal him from you—” He’s cut off once again by Louis.

“Are you seriously that thick?” he deadpans. Nick stares back blankly. “Oh my God, you really don’t have any idea, do you?”

“Idea about what?” Nick asks confused, brows furrowing. He doesn’t get it. Not until Louis is stepping closer and his lips are on Nick’s, a hand gripping his shoulder, and—“What?” Nick exclaims as he pulls away, head jerking back in surprise. He must be drunker than he thought, because it can’t be that…

“I wasn’t jealous of you, I was jealous of Harry,” Louis says, sighing. “I thought it was pretty fucking obvious I fancy you. Then you go and send mixed signals, acting like you’re genuinely interested in me while being all touchy-feely with Harry.”

“I wasn’t touchy-feely with Harry,” Nick mumbles sort of numb. He can’t really process what’s going on. Louis likes him? He sees Louis’ jaw twitching as he presses his teeth together, eyes going cold once again, stepping back and crossing his arms.

“That’s all you have to say? I confess my feelings and all you care about is Harry.” Louis shakes his head, hurt flashing on his face before he turns, ready to storm away, but Nick _isn’t_ having this conversation inside. No way.

“Wait, Louis, give me a fucking break, I need to process this, okay?” he snaps, not looking at the other lad. When Louis doesn’t move, Nick finally feels safe to turn away, stepping closer to the railing Louis stood at. He looks over the yard, the dark covering the mess the ceremony left behind.

He doesn’t talk. Doesn’t know what to say, except questions like ‘why’, ‘how’ and alike. He isn’t going to ask. As much as they’re being honest to each other now, Nick knows Louis’ temper. And isn’t that a funny thing, how Nick _knows_ Louis without really _knowing_ him?

“How long?” he settles to ask, because even though not looking at him, Nick feels tension radiating from Louis. He isn’t going to wait for Nick forever.

“Not since the beginning, but close,” Louis answers, voice free from all feelings. Nick isn’t sure he likes that. Hell, he isn’t even sure he likes Louis enough to want to know the answers. But he wants to know, because otherwise he’ll think about this for months.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“As I said. It was pretty fucking obvious. Everybody noticed, apparently, except you.”

“When did I ever give you the idea that I’d just ignore you if I knew about your feelings?” Nick snaps, turning around, hurt. And he doesn’t care about the annoyed look on Louis’ face, because he has every right to be mad. Probably. Maybe.

“I don’t know, when I thought you knew and ignored me, maybe?” Louis snaps back. Nick isn’t going to rise to the bait.

“Then let me tell you one thing, Louis, in case you didn’t know. I like you. Quite a lot. My attempts to make friends with you weren’t just for the sake of mocking you, I genuinely wanted to get to know you. If you took half a second to consider you might not be the only one with suppressed feelings, you’d have noticed it.”

Louis doesn’t answer, but he doesn’t need to. The surprise passing on his face is enough to tell Nick he truly never thought about that possibility. Which is ridiculous. Nick isn’t a doormat and Louis knows too, he wouldn’t have put up with him if he didn’t want to.

“I can’t deal with this tonight. Let’s go inside. We’ll talk tomorrow once we’ve both thought about… whatever this is.” Louis nods, not protesting as he turns and heads inside. Nick doesn’t follow immediately, taking a moment to collect himself. Then he plasters a smile on his face when he sees Harry eying him curiously through the glass of the door and goes to mingle with the celebrating party.

 

\--

 

The next morning Nick wakes when there’s a knock on his door. He groans, looking at the alarm clock on the bedside table, frowning when he sees how early it is. His head is about to explode, because he tried to avoid Louis by having a drink with everyone he was introduced to. It was quite a night, but the bride got so drunk, she was dancing on the top of the table, so Nick figures he wasn’t the worst.

He doesn’t bother putting on actual clothes other than the soft robe from the hotel’s bathroom, and he passes to the door, cracking it open. His head is pounding.

“Yeah?” he squirms at the lights in the hallway.

“Did you mean it?” Louis asks, and no, it’s way too early for that. Nick leaves the door open as he turns to look for pain killers. Louis closes the door behind himself, coming to a halt just in the doorway of the bedroom. Nick swallows a pill before answering, sitting on the edge of his bed.

“What do you want, Louis?”

“On the terrace last night. Did you just say that to make me feel better or did you mean it?” Louis demands, crossing his arms.

“Please specify, I think I drank away half of my brain cells.”

“That you like me too.”

“Yes, Louis, I meant it. I don’t find pleasure in mocking others feelings, unlike other people.” Nick mentally slaps himself for the jab, but it’s not like he can’t. Louis insulted him long enough. Now, that he finally has a hold on him, Nick wants revenge. Not too low though. He has morals.

“Then let’s fuck.”

“What,” Nick deadpans, looking over at Louis. He’s 99% sure he didn’t hear right.

“Fuck. Now,” Louis states, looking as determined as ever. Nick is as confused as ever though.

“Pardon me?” Nick blinks up at him, beyond confused.

 “Why aren’t we fucking already? Jesus, Grimshaw, you’re thicker than my grandma.”

“You know, insulting me won’t get you in my bed very effectively.”

 “Are you saying you don’t want to fuck?” Louis huffs, sounding fed up. Nick sighs.

“No, I said I don’t have a humiliation kink. I also just woke up and we agreed to discuss this thing before moving further.” Nick points out, raising his eyebrows in question. Louis seems to consider it for a minute before nodding.

“I’m not the talking type of guy.”

“I figured.” Nick snorts, leaning back on his hands. Louis’ eyes roam over his exposed chest. “Look, I want to fuck, God knows I do.” Nick looks him up as well, humming.

“But you want to talk.”

“I do.”

“Okay. Let’s fuck then talk.”

“Okay.” Nick is surprised at himself, how easily he agreed. He isn’t usually one for that type of thing, but… What Louis offers is on the table now. Who knows what will happen if Louis gets it out of his system. It might be better this way. They won’t get attached too early. He says as much, Louis looking slightly offended, but he nods.

“Fine. If that’s how you want to interpret it, be it. Just know that I’ve had a crush on you for two years. I’m not going to back out.” It’s a strangely mature and level-headed response, and it throws Nick off just enough that Louis has the chance to step up to him, straddling his hips.

He doesn’t expect the lips attacking his, but he doesn’t protest, because it’s fucking good. Especially when Louis cradles his face in his hands, pushing their lips together hungrily. It’s easy to get lost in the sensation, Louis’ desperation sticking to him as he moans into the kiss, hands finding Louis’ waist to hold onto.

Louis pulls away after a few minutes of making out, looking at him with hooded eyes.

“You really mean it,” he says quietly, almost hopefully.

“I told you,” Nick replies, squeezing Louis’ waist.

“I didn’t believe you too much.”

“No, I guess you didn’t.” Nick sighs, slipping his hands under Louis’ soft, worn tee. It’s probably the same he wore at the motel for the night.

“So, are we going to fuck?” Louis asks, returning to his awful self, raising his eyebrows like Nick is being difficult. Nick rolls his eyes.

“Do you always have ruin everything?” Nick asks annoyed.

“It’s not my fault you won’t get with the program.”

“Do you always have to run your mouth?”

Louis snorts at that, raising an eyebrow.

“Why don’t you shut me up then?” And that’s all Nick needs to turn them, pushing Louis into the mattress, leaning down, mouth only centimetres from Louis’. Louis doesn’t hesitate, arches into Nick and attaches their mouths, reaching up to pull Nick down by the back of his head.

“Gosh, you’re a good kisser,” is out of Nick’s mouth before he can stop himself as they pull away for air, and he blushes as Louis chuckles.

“Is that new?” Louis wonders, letting his head fall back onto the mattress. He looks delicious enough that Nick can’t refuse, kiss down his chin, over his jawline to his neck.

“Sadly, yes. My last kiss was terrible. I didn’t even know there’s such a thing before—”

“And I’m the one running my mouth?” Louis cuts him off frustrated, pulling Nick back from his neck by his hair, reattaching their mouths.

Louis pushes up to Nick, plastering their chests to the groin together, arms framing Nick’s head as one holds his hair, the other gripping the back of Nick’s robe. Nick has his hands on Louis’ waist, holding him in place before Louis pulls back narrowing his eyes at Nick.

“Do you want to be a gentleman or do you want to fuck me?”

“Both?” Nick frowns, confused.

“Then hold me,” Louis grunts, reaching down and pulling on Nick’s forearms then wrists, “like you mean it.” He guides Nick’s hands to his arse, and yeah, that’s nice, much better, and they both moan as Nick grabs him firmly. “Fuck. Yes.”

“Clothes,” he tells Louis, hands leaving the round cheeks in favour of pushing Louis’s shirt up. “Come on, up.”

“You are not my boss,” Louis pants, pushing himself up to be able to pull off the shirt. He then slips his hand to the front of Nick’s briefs. Nick moans at the feeling of Louis’ hand pressing down on his growing erection.

“I’m not going to be able to fuck you if you’re wearing clothes,” Nick says after a beat, catching his breath. He’s fumbling with Louis’ fly.

“Yeah, okay, fair enough,” Louis sighs, getting to work as well. Joined, they quickly get rid of Louis’ pants and socks, also Nick’s robe so they’re both left in their underwear.

Nick’s eyes roam over his tastefully toned chest, soft tummy, down to the tight, black briefs.

“Like what you see?” Louis asks, tone mocking, but no heat behind it. Nick shakes his head, readjusting them so he’s straddling Louis’ hips. It’s a bit awkward with the height difference, uncomfortable to lean down so much so he can kiss Louis, but he does, because his lips are too inviting not to.

They make out for a few more minutes, hands roaming over smooth, heated skin. He isn’t even aware of Louis’ own hands on his back until they dip under the briefs and grab Nick’s cheeks. Nick moans into the kiss, pulling away and off of Louis to push him more onto the bed.

He climbs after him, finally laying down, body covering Louis’. They fit nicely, one thigh between each of their own. Nick feels Louis’ hard-on pressing into his hips, so he wriggles a bit on top of him to line them up, and they both groan at the sensation.

The fabric of his briefs feel too prominent to Nick as Louis starts to thrust up, sliding their lengths together. Nick deepens the kiss, getting lost in the feel of Louis against him, then pulls away to catch his breath. He moves onto the lean neck, biting, licking and kissing the skin. Louis arches into the sensation, soft moans leaving his mouth as Nick slides lower and lower, reaching his nipples. He takes a bud into his mouth, licking around it before moving on, kissing down Louis’ stomach.

Louis is moving constantly, writhing underneath Nick’s weight, hands sliding over his head, shoulders and upper back. Nick is reaching up blindly, trying to find the elastic of the briefs, then pulls them down to mid-thigh. He looks over his cock, admiring it for a moment before licking a stripe from bottom to top, taking the head into his mouth, tonguing the slit.

Louis moans long and loud, hips lifting from the bed, hands fisting in Nick’s hair as he works on Louis’ dick. He doesn’t take long to suck, figuring he’ll have time for that another time. Now, he looks up at Louis, who’s watching him with half-lidded eyes. He slides up the lad’s body, claiming his lips again while Louis pushes his hips up, searching for friction.

“Do you want to—”

“Can you shut up just while we fuck each other’s brains out?” Louis _tsks_ , shaking his head.

“You know you’d get laid more often if you had a little more patience and better manners.”

“I’m patient enough, I didn’t jump you the moment you opened the door. Can we move onto the fucking part now, please?” He sounds desperate and Nick rolls his eyes, thrusting down, which earns him a moan.

“Let me get the lube,” Nick says, rolling off of Louis to lean down over the edge of the bed to his bag. He pulls out the lube and two condoms, tossing both on the bed, turning back to Louis.

He has pulled off his briefs the rest of the way, lazily stroking himself while watching Nick with hooded eyes. Nick palms his own erection, to which Louis makes a noise in the back of his throat.

“Okay?” Nick asks gently.

“Yeah.” Louis shakes himself out of his trance, moving and manipulating Nick’s body until he’s straddling his hips, reattaching their lips. Nick grips his hipbones before letting his hands slip down onto strong thighs, then back up, fingers sneaking close to his exposed erection.

Louis grunts impatiently, and it takes Nick a few moments to realize what he wants Nick to do. From where he’s on his back, he can’t reach the lube though, so he flips them over. Louis is much more manageable underneath him.

His hands blindly find the lube and he stops kissing Louis just enough so he can open it and squeeze some on his fingers, while Louis’ hands pet down every limb they can find. Nick doesn’t drag it out, seeing the impatience in Louis’ eyes, so he reaches down and runs his finger over Louis’ sensitive hole.

“Oh, God,” Louis moans, spreading his legs a little more as Nick pushes the first finger inside. “Who said I’d bottom?” he asks, breathless. Nick chuckles.

“Stop acting like a bratty bottom and people won’t assume.”

“ _People_ don’t—ah, people don’t assume. You do. Asshole.” Louis pants, wriggling with a frown on his face like he’s uncomfortable. Nick leans back, looking down at where his first finger is buried inside Louis and teases a second beside it, the slick making it catch in the rim.

“Grimshaw,” Louis groans, pulling Nick’s attention away from his hole. “Hurry the fuck up already,” Louis demands and Nick rolls his eyes.

“Figures you’d be bossy in bed too.”

“We are not playing that game. I’ve waited for this for two years. You hurry up or I’ll fuck you instead.” He sits up, Nick’s fingers trapping underneath him uncomfortably as he captures Nick’s lips in a deep kiss.

“Turn around, Jesus,” Nick says, pulling his fingers away with a painful hiss.

“Louis is just fine,” Louis mutters as he turns on the sheets, lying on his belly and pushing his ass out. Nick rolls his eyes, quickly getting rid of his briefs before he pours more lube on his fingers, pushing two inside. It makes Louis groan and drop his head into his arms.

Despite Louis’ demands, he takes his time preparing him, occasionally tugging at his own cock to take the edge off, then Louis is moaning and wriggling impatient. He pulls out his fingers, picking up the condom and failing to open it with slippery fingers, so he gets it open with his teeth.

“What’s taking forever, you forgot how to do it?” Louis asks, muffled by the sheets and his arms. Nick moves on instinct, swatting Louis’ arse gently, which earns him a yelp. “I demand dinner before we get out the whips, you pervert.”

“Don’t you have an off button?” Nick asks annoyed, slicking up his cock. Louis snorts, and Nick figures he’s about to answer, but the words get stuck in his throat as Nick lines himself up and starts to push.

“Oh, God,” Louis moans loudly as Nick pushes in, slowly, trying to decide if Louis is in pain. He soon bottoms out, eyes closing at the sensation and he moans hands gripping Louis’ hips. Louis whines, body tense and unmoving.

“You okay?” Nick asks. Louis shakes his head, hands gripping the sheets. Nick has a moment of panic before Louis says anything.

“It’s—ah, it’s been a while. Gimme a minute,” he pants, trying to take deep breaths. Nick rubs his back, trying not to be too concerned. Louis would rip his head off if he was too uncomfortable, at least he hopes so, trying to figure out the other lad’s mood. “’kay, just. Slow?”

“Yeah,” Nick breathes, leaning down and weaving his arms around Louis’ torso as he gently rocks into him. Louis relaxes after a few moments, and soon he’s writhing, moaning underneath Nick, trying to push back against Nick’s shallow thrusts.

Nick straightens up after that, letting go of Louis, who moans at the changing angle. Nick pulls out more, than pushes in deeper, which makes Louis jerk, but he quickly adapts, soon moving with Nick. They get lost in the sensations for a few minutes, then Louis is shaking his head, reaching back, blindly searching for Nick.

“Grimshaw. Turn.”

“What?” Nick frowns, grabbing Louis’ wrist and pulls him back towards himself. Louis arches into it.

“Fuck! I wanna turn around,” Louis whines, his thighs shaking.

“Yeah, okay,” Nick lets go of him, pulling out with a hiss. Louis takes a second to catch his breath, then he’s turning, Nick helping with his legs. He’s still holding Louis’ ankles when he looks up to him, and feels air leaving his lungs. Louis’ hair is sweaty, sticking to his forehead, while his face, neck and chest are flushed. His mouth is dry, but his eyes are a bit wet.

“Come on,” Louis groans, staring into Nick’s eyes hungrily and he complies, pulling Louis closer by his ankles. He takes himself into hand to push back into Louis, moaning at the sensation and the visuals. Louis throws his head back, mouth falling open in a silent moan, arms flexing by his sides as he grips the sheets.

Nick starts up his pace, and soon they’re moving together again. It takes a few minutes, but eventually Louis reaches up and pulls Nick down for a deep kiss, pushing his tongue in Nick’s mouth.

It doesn’t take much longer for him to reach his climax, fumbling with Louis’ cock to jerk him off as well, but his hand is knocked away and Louis jerks off while Nick moans and comes inside him.

“Fuck!” Louis shouts as Nick’s hand joins his on his cock, and he lazily helps Louis while he brings himself off. As soon as Louis is done, Nick collapses on top of him, panting into his neck while Louis is boneless underneath him. They lay there, wordlessly for a few minutes until Louis starts pushing on Nick’s shoulder, right off of him.

“What?” Nick grunts, fighting sleepiness.

“You still have the condom on. And I have to pee,” Louis explains, groaning as he sits up, then hissing when he stands.

“Sore?” Nick asks, fiddling with the condom, pulling it off.

“Don’t get over your head. I haven’t been fucked in over a year,” Louis tells him from the bathroom. Nick hears the tap running while he disposes the condom, then goes to the bathroom doorway, leaning against it as he watches Louis running a wet towel over his skin.

“And how did I do?” Nick asks, letting his head fall against the doorway. Louis looks up at him, letting his gaze run over Nick’s body.

“You want a score?” Louis raises his eyebrows, stepping closer with the towel still in his hand. He lets it touch Nick’s chest, smiling softly as Nick shudders at the touch. Nick shakes his head, pulling Louis closer by the hips, dipping his head and letting their lips brush against each other.

“I think you need a bit more data to give accurate rating.”

“I think I do too,” Louis hums, then tips his chin up, kissing Nick on the mouth before stepping back with a shit eating grin. “I always found it the most challenging in the shower. You think you can handle that?”

“Certainly,” Nick chuckles, following Louis into the shower.

A few hours later finds them in bed, arms around each other. Louis is lying half on top of Nick, drawing patterns onto his chest, content and comfortable. Nick is, too.

“So, what about that conversation?” Nick asks quietly, not wanting to pop their little bubble.

“You really want to talk right now? Are you out of your mind?” Louis slurs a bit, sounding seconds away from falling asleep.

“Kind of, yeah. I just fucked you three times in a row. Takes out some of me, especially since I drank away the majority of my brain cells, remember?”

Louis snorts. “Please, like you had that much. Old man can’t handle a little alcohol?”

“Shut up, Tomlinson.”

“You first, Grimshaw.”

END

**Author's Note:**

> If you wanna say hi, I have a [tumblr](http://assisreal.tumblr.com/), and also here's a [rebloggable post](http://assisreal.tumblr.com/post/168534232612/) if you want to share the fic! Also check out the [Tomlinshaw 2017 Exchange](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Tomlinshaw_2017_Fic_Exchange/works) for more awesome fics!
> 
> Thank you for reading! Comments are always appreciated, I learn from your constructive criticism!


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